Chinese 2012 R&D Spending Reached One Trillion Yuan

And similar news of increased science funding in China, clearly these countries realized the importance of investing in science today to materialize tremendous economic and societal benefits for their countries in future: Chinese 2012 R&D Spending Reached One Trillion Yuan: http://www.asianscientist.com/topnews/chinese-scientific-expenditure-1-trillion-2012/ "China’s R&D spending increased 17.9 percent year on year to 1.02 trillion yuan (US$162.24 billion) in 2012, according to data released Friday.
R&D expenditure represented 1.97 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) last year, up from the 1.84 percent and 1.75 percent in 2011 and 2010, respectively, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
China’s annual R&D spending has grown on average by more than 20 percent for six straight years since 2006 before slowing slightly last year, said an earlier NBS report.
A total of 217,105 invention patents to domestic and overseas applicants were approved in 2012, up 26.1 percent from the previous year, reported the State Intellectual Property Office."